Tides Of Emotion
by Anyuna
Summary: Love, hate, pain, joy, suspicion and trust. All these and others, the tides of emotion that so sway our lives are easy for Alexas to see, but will she ever allow herself to be touched by them? DracoOC
1. The Astronomy Tower

Even though he'd read the letter many times already, he read it again. _"No luck there, it still says the same thing."_ He sighed deeply. _"Well at least the view from here is nice while I contemplate what the rest of my horrible, horrible life will be like." _Another deep sigh.

"You know, not only is the Astronomy tower out of bounds, it's also way after curfew." He was so shocked that he jolted, nearly loosing his balance. Obviously his intruder didn't want him dead, as she yanked hard on the back of his robes, dumping him unceremoniously on the stone floor. "And you're a prefect too, tisk tisk."

In a moment Draco was on his feet, the letter was back in his robes, and he was, once more, all arrogance. "What do you think you're doing sneaking up on me like that!"

"I am meant to be patrolling the castle looking for roaming dissidents, and I've found one. Technically, I should be giving you a detention, and taking points from your house. So don't get all high and mighty with me, mister Malfoy, and yes I do know who you are." She said in response the brief look of confusion that crossed his face. "Or else I might just decide to dump you in detention." That last sentence was accentuated by a poke in the chest for every word.

By now, poor Draco was thoroughly confused, and getting angrier by the second. "You can't talk to me like that!"

"Actually, I believe I can. What with my being a prefect and all. But because you're one too, I think I'll just let you off with a warning this time. Next time, you might not be so lucky."

At that she sauntered off, leaving Draco alone once more, his mouth gaping much like that of a stunned fish. He stood like that for several minutes, trying to understand what had just happened.

"_Well, for a start, she got one up on me. And of course that means there'll have to be retaliation on my part to keep up appearances. I wonder who she is? I know she's a prefect, because she told me, but I can't recall her name." _He shrugged it off. _"Oh well, I guess I'd better try and at least get some sleep before the game tomorrow."_ And at that he went off to bed.

* * *

A/N: Exreeeeeemmmmeeely short chapter there, but don't worry, the later ones are much longer.


	2. Who Is The Better Seeker?

"Good morning and welcome to the very first quidditch match of the season! My name is Roger Cliffard, but you can all call me Cliff - everyone else does; don't ask me why, they just do. I'll be taking over the commentary for Lee Jordan this year, and I hope I can fill the hole in your hearts I'm sure his leaving has caused. Playing today is the amazingly talented Ravenclaw team versus the..." Here he paused, making a vague hand gesture. "...Slyther-something team. Anyone know who they are?" While the two teams walked out onto the pitch and mounted their brooms, he grinned cheekily at the stadium in general, but then he saw the murderous glares he was receiving from not only the entire Slytheryn team and house, but also their head. Several people would tell later that Snape had quite a pronounced facial twitch for the remainder of the day. At that sight, he grimaced, cleared his throat nervously and continued. "Anyway, there goes Madam Hooch's whistle, and they're off."

As they took off, Draco reflected on the fact that no matter who they were playing, the other houses always cheered for their opposition, even if it would mean that a Slytheryn loss would lower their own houses rankings. While wondering if things would be better if he'd been in a different house, he looked up and saw her. Seeing the shocked look on his face, she winked at him. The fact that it only baffled him further seemed to amuse her because she laughed as they sped up into the sky.

Putting everything else out of his mind, Draco concentrated on finding the snitch, not even batting an eyelid when Slytheryn scored two goals in close succession. That was until he heard a voice by his ear.

"We meet again Mister Malfoy." Draco nearly fell off his broom with shock. This was the last thing he needed! He turned; ready to deliver a crushing insult. "You're so jumpy! You really should think about your stress levels and take some time to chill out." The insult faltered at the last moment. How did she keep doing this to him?

"What are you doing here?"

"Well this is a quidditch match, and I am the Ravenclaw seeker." Draco's expression became suddenly determined. He had to beat her, prove he was the better seeker. And after all, his broom was still superior to most of those in the school. "By the way," she said casually, "Don't think you can rely on your broom for victory." She shifted slightly in midair to show the handle more clearly. "Mine is its equal."" On the handle of her broom were inscribed the same words that were on his. _Nimbus Two Thousand And One_.

"No matter. I'll just have to beat you with my superior skill. Shouldn't be too hard." He sneered his trademark sneer, getting in the first shot so far, confident it wouldn't be the last.

"And Slytheryn score another goal. Whoop-dee-doo for them." Cliff's voice was flat and somewhat bitter. "Come on guys! It's thirty-nil! Ravenclaw needs a win! Don't make me beg!" He paused slightly. "Cause I will!"

"Your team seems to be getting off to a wonderfully bad start this year, doesn't it." She glared at him.

"The team that deserves it will win. Just you wait and see." She turned her broom and took off down the pitch.

"Yeah it will! And it's the team that's in the lead right now!" He called after her, gleeful to have gotten in the last word. Going to return to his search for the snitch, he noticed that she'd come back. "Come back to admit that I'm the better seeker, have you?"

"Not a chance, slimeball. Just to say that I haven't forgotten about last night, I could tell everyone that you were out of bed and out of bounds." His good mood not altered in the slightest, Draco replied slyly.

"You wouldn't dob in someone so handsome and talented, would you?"

"No, but you aren't either." She knew that in this rage she was provoking, he'd miss the fact that the snitch was hovering only a few yards to his left, while he was facing her. The only thing that remained was the finishing touch. Ah yes... "DRACO MALFOY YOU HAVE A DETENTION!" She seized Draco's moment of shock and confusion to shoot like a bullet towards the little prize. Draco, realizing he'd been duped, spun and sped after her, but it was too late. By the time he got to where the snitch was, it was already clasped in her hand, her face triumphant.

"She did it! Ravenclaw's new seeker, Alexas McDougal, has just out witted... that other guy and has captured the snitch! That means the final score is one fifty to thirty! Ravenclaw win! Now let us all dance with joy!" He looked around him at the disbelieving stares. "No? Then I'll dance alone."

McGonagall put her head in her hands in despair. "I didn't think it possible, but he's actually worse." She groaned. Professor Flitwick put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I did try to warn you Minerva. At least the students seem to like him." He paused reflectively, looking at the booing and cursing Slytheryns. "Well, most of them."

Back in the air, Alexas was boasting. "I told you the best team would win. And they did so because their seeker is, in every way, better. Oh, and by the way. Don't worry about the detention, I was only kidding."

"You only won because you tricked me!" Draco spat, furious.

"What's this?" She exclaimed incredulously. "A Slytheryn disapproving of devious methods of winning? You just don't like the taste of your own medicine." She spiraled her way down to the ground to be surrounded by her exuberant teammates, who then escorted her out to the changing rooms.

* * *

Back in the Ravenclaw common room, Alexas couldn't help but think about Draco. He intrigued her immensely. She'd never met anyone with such a muddle of emotion, all at once, and all of them conflicting. Layers too. Anger and arrogance on the surface, but underneath, something deeper and far more vulnerable. "He'll be fun to mess with. I think I'll keep pushing him till I find out what it is that he's hiding; I bet it's good." She thought as she went to help herself to a cream tart. She hesitated and grabbed a first year by the collar. "Eat this." She ordered. She observed that seconds later, the first year was a canary. "I should have known." She put her hand to her mouth and yelled over the hubbub. "Hey Cliff! Is ANY of this food not boobytrapped?" He scanned the table.

"Uhhhhh... Nope." Was his shouted reply. When everyone edged away the table by a few paces, they both chuckled. Alexas continued to do so as she watched him turn back to his quest of trying to convince a poor first year into believing him that he was a responsible prefect and would never give her charmed food.

"How did you ever become a prefect Cliff?" He shrugged as the first year's tongue started to swell.

"Administrative muck-up? Or maybe it was my charming personality." They both laughed loudly.

"Well, probably a muck-up then."

"You are too harsh mistress." He said bowing. "But I will serve you still." Still laughing softly, they both turned back to their respective tasks. Alexas to her Herbology homework, and Cliff to the next gullible-looking first year.

* * *

Draco, on the other hand, was in one of the worst moods of his life. Pacing in an empty classroom he was currently using to avoid the rest of his house, he fumed. It was bad enough she got him once, but then she tricked him and bet him to the snitch! And to top that all off, he'd had to put up with the rest of his team sniping at him about not being distracted by girls and making jokes about him in detention.

"Why do I care? Maybe years of keeping score has become too much of a habit. To keep up with my reputation, I'll have to find a way to get back at her." He sighed and slumped into a dust-coated chair. "I just know this is gonna end up like the situation with Potter. Countless attacks hurled over some pointless slight so far back that either of us barely remember." He rose again and resumed his pacing.

"I could bluff it for awhile, just pretend that I've got something planned to scare her while I come up with what I'll actually do." He stopped for a moment. "It's probably safe to go back. The others should be in bed by now." Cautiously opening the door and checking that no one was in the corridor, he slipped out and headed off to the Slytheryn common room and his bed.

* * *

A/N: So what do we all think of Cliff? Love him? Lothe him? Let me know!


	3. The Joy Of Mornings And An Announcement

A/N: Ah, mornings. Don't they just make you want to shoot yourself? I suppose it's a good thing most wizards don't know about guns.

* * *

"And when the snitch was that close to Malfoy I thought I'd die!"

Alexas groaned, and not for the first time that morning. It was far too early for her to even try and deal with Adrian Biggsly. "Why didn't you Biggsly?" Alexas said wearily, her head down on the table amongst the breakfast things. "I HATE MORNINGS!" Both fists hit the table simultaneously, making everything around her jump.

"Oh, but the morning is the best part of the whole day!" Cliff exclaimed, placing one hand over his heart and looking wistfully at the ceiling. "Dragging yourself out of your nice, warm, comfy bed to wander around blearily on the cold hard stone."

"Stop! This is like torture!" Was the plaintive cry from Alexas.

Cliff continued unfazed. "Then you get to drag yourself corpse-like down here." He made a sweeping gesture with one arm, encompassing the entire Great Hall. This grand movement ended up with his pointing at Slytheryn. "Only to be surrounded by imbeciles and to have your mail unceremoniously dumped on you. Speaking of which…" He looked up as the owls began swooping in.

"At least I know I won't be getting any mail today." Her relief could be clearly heard, but it was short lived as moments later a letter clonked her on the head and rebounded into her goblet of pumpkin juice, showering her with the contents.

"I think you jinxed it." Was all Cliff could manage to choke through the laughter while Alexas tried to fish out her note while glaring the glare of death at him.

"You're not helping." She said, peeling the sticky letter open and squinting at it. "Hmm. Squiggly line, blurred word. P?" She threw it disgustedly onto the table. "It's no good. I can't read it."

"You could just do a reversal charm on it." Said Adrian with a flick of his wand, doing just that.

Alexas dropped her head back onto the table. "Yes, but that would make sense, wouldn't it Biggsly?" Came the accusing remark.

Adrian tried to cover his confusion at this by remarking, "Oh, look. Both me and Cliff got one too."

"That's Cliff and I, young man. I won't correct you again!" He leaned down. "Would you like me to read it out for you? They're all exactly the same."

"Do I have to do anything?" Alexas mumbled, barely audibly.

"Not at all. You can just sit there and vegetate like the lump that you are." He reassured her with all the gentle affection of an elderly father.

"Knock yourself out, then." She replied dismissively.

He tried, however badly, to hide how amused he really was as he started to read the words aloud. "'All prefects must stay after dinner tonight for a meeting of great importance.' And it's signed by Dumbledore himself too. Don't I just feel so important!"

"Except that all of them are signed." Commented Alexas, now upright and at least partially awake. "I wonder what the meeting is about?"

"Spoilsport." Cliff was pouting dramatically, his hand on his hips. "He probably just wants to let everyone know how wonderful I am. Maybe he wants to give me some sort of award! I should start practicing my acceptance speech right now!" As he wandered away from his half-finished breakfast, gesturing randomly and uttering wholehearted thanks to the empty air, Alexas let her head return to its resting place on the table with a heavy thud.

* * *

Alexas has never known a day to go so quickly. She spent the entire time wondering what it was that Dumbledore would call a meeting over. Troublesome students using magic in the corridors? First years needing better maps? Nothing seemed to make sense.

She was so distracted that she didn't even notice when Adrian, who she was working with in potions, ruined the potion they were teamed up on, earning them a lecture from Professor Snape. Snape did notice, however, that one of the students he was humiliating didn't care in the slightest. This made him get more and more agitated and callous, but as she didn't react, he couldn't punish her for what she was refusing to do. So he turned on the cowering Adrian, milking his abject terror for all it was worth, and felt much better for it.

Dinner also went past in a blur of thought. After only a few minutes, all those around Alexas gave up on any attempts to drag her out of her reverie. Except of course, for Cliff. He continued on as if she was paying rapt attention, but then, he usually did that anyway, regardless of who was or wasn't listening.

As soon as Dumbledore stood up, Alexas was at rigid attention. "My dear prefects, and of course the Head Girl and Boy." He twinkled at the assemblage before him. "After much thought, I have decided to re-instate an old and great tradition of this school. I am re-opening the Prefect Common room."

In the shocked silence someone called out; "You're kidding, right?"

Dumbledore chuckled. "I can assure you, mister Cliffard, that this is no joke. Far from it." His expression saddened. "In this grave time, the leaders of the school must be closer than ever. Now, I would be most grateful if the heads would kindly lead the others to their new living abode. Your things have already been moved there ahead of you." He stood up and left the room, seemingly oblivious to the cries of outrage that were now echoing throughout the Great Hall.

Alexas stormed over to Cho, who was leaving the hall to lead the way. "You knew about this! Don't tell me that you agree with him?" She raged.

"He didn't exactly ask for my opinion, he just told me what was going to happen and showed me where the common room was." Cho's manner was crisp and didn't invite any further conversation, so Alexas gave up on her, and allowed herself to drift further back in the crowd. It was then that she noticed Ron and Hermione.

Ron was walking along with his hands on his head and a look of utter disbelief on his face. He was also chanting, "It's not happening. It's not happening."

Hermione on the other hand, just looked as if she was about to clonk Ron upside the head. "You know he's right Ron, we are the leaders of the school. It's our responsibility to set a good example."

Ron's expression was one of great pain. "But Malfoy! Now we have to deal with him all the time!" His expression turned suddenly hopeful. "Maybe this is all just a bad dream! Somebody pinch me." So, as is to be expected in these situations, somebody did. Ron yelped.

"Sorry. But you did say that you wanted someone to pinch you." Alexas said, grinning sheepishly as Ron rubbed his cheek and glared accusingly at her.

"Hey!" Hermione pointed at her in her revelation. "I know you! You're Ravenclaw's new seeker!"

"Guilty as charged. The name's Alexas. And of course I know yours. Who doesn't know the companions of the ever so famous Harry Potter?"

The introductions were interrupted by Cliff pouncing on Alexas, flinging his arms around her neck and pretending to cry hysterically on her shoulder. "I thought I'd lost you!" He choked through his massive, yet obviously fake sobs.

"Get. Off. Me." Alexas' face and voice were like stone as she said this. Cliff responded to this by shrinking back suddenly from her and making a cross out of two of his fingers. Alexas sighed and said to the shocked pair in front of them, "This babbling idiot is my friend Cliff."

The babbling idiot in question was on his feet in an instant, giving Ron and Hermione and deep, flowery bow. "How do." He said pompously. "So." He said, his manner businesslike, "What do we think of the new living arrangements?"

"I'm going to have to agree with Ron on this." Hermione said grimly. "Living with Malfoy doesn't exactly sound fun."

"Oh I don't know about that." Alexas' grin was pure evil. "It'll make him all the easier to get."

"Get eh?" Cliff leered slyly, elbowing Alexas suggestively in the ribs. She shot him a dismayed look.

"No! I meant easier to prank. All the really good pranks require at least some access to living areas.

"Cliff's eyes lit up gleefully. "Pranks? Yay! What are you going to do to him?"

She stroked her chin thoughtfully. "Not quite sure yet. But I assure you it'll be good."

"Oh, please let me help!" Ron's voice was beseeching.

"Of course. The more the merrier. I'll let you know when I come up with something." All of them in an improved mood, they spent the rest of the trip in contented silence, all playing out in their heads what they'd like to do to Malfoy – well except Cliff who wasn't actually thinking anything in particular.

Draco on the other hand, definitely had something on his mind. He was thinking furiously to himself as he walked. "How can he do this? It's completely inhuman! Now I'll have to listen to Potter's friends babble on about how much they hate me and I'll probably even have to retaliate." A thought struck him that was highly comforting. "At least I won't have to put up with Mr. Righteous himself." Slightly consoled, he followed the rest of the group to his new prison quarters.


	4. Prank Number One

A few minutes later, Hermione and Alexas were still talking as they arranged their personal things.

Hermione shook her head disbelievingly. "It's hard to take in everything that's happened today."

Alexas shrugged. "I can take being shifted in here, just not the way it's been arranged. I thought all the houses would be together, but it's the different years."

"I don't mind having to share with you or Hanna Abbott; it's just her I can't stand." That muttered comment was directed at Pansy Parkinson who was setting up her many pictures of Draco on her bedside, in most of which 2D Draco was trying to escape in many different ways, all of them ingenious, yet sadly ineffective. "At least our lot is better than Ron's. He has to put up with Malfoy in person."

"You really do hate him, don't you?" She said curiously, still watching the futile struggles of the photographic Dracos. "Personally, I find him intriguing."

"Are you sure your friend wasn't right?" Hermione grinned slyly, her meaning crystal clear.

Alexas laughed softly and shook her head. "I can assure you it's nothing like that. He just has such a complex mind." Hermione's confusion was evident so she continued to explain. "I shouldn't really tell anyone, but I reckon you can be trusted. I'm an empath so I can sense the layers of feelings coming from him, and they fascinate me, that's all."

She cast a doubtful look at Alexas. "What layers?" The only answer was a dismissive shrug that made Hermione think she wasn't being told the whole story.

Alexas covered this up by saying, "It's getting late and I've got Herbology first thing tomorrow. Night." She clambered into her bed and pulled the curtains as Hermione bid her goodnight in return.

* * *

Draco sat on his bed, bored out of his mind, listening to Weasley and that Hufflepuff, Ernie something-or-rather and someone else he didn't know bleat on about how much of an inconvenience it was to be stuck with him.

He rolled his eyes. "Like it's the greatest time of my life to have to put up with you lot. At least they think still I'm asleep."

He waited until he couldn't hear them any more, then started off down stairs. He knew he'd missed breakfast, but he missed the idiot mob too, so it made up for it. He decided then and there to get up earlier from now on.

"Now!" A bucket, floating above his head upended and covered him in what appeared to be tar. Before he could even begin to process this, a pillow suspended above the bucket split open, showering him with feathers that stuck fast to the extremely sticky tar, as that's what it was.

He was shocked out of his trance by the flash of a camera and Alexas and Cliff collapsing in fits of hysterical laughter from either side of the stairwell.

"Y-you're ex-expression! It's priceless!" She put her hand to her face. "Look! Tears! Actual tears!" She plonked down on the floor, her still shaking with laughter.

Cliff went down beside her, leaning on her shoulder, also still shaking with laughter. "That had to be at least," he paused for a moment, "the third funniest thing I've ever seen!" He got up.

"Where are you going Cliff?" she asked as he started to leave.

Still chuckling, he replied. "Gotta get to charms. Then to get this developed. That shot was definitely one for the books."

The closing of the door seemed to wake Draco up. "What is wrong with you!" He clenched his fists and whipped his wand out of his robes panting with fury.

Alexas grinned cheekily up at him from her seat on the floor. "What's the matter? Can't take a joke? By the way, I wouldn't use a vanishing spell on that if I were you."

"Of course you wouldn't." he retorted, raising his wand in preparation for the spell. At the last moment, Alexas shielded her face with her arms. Draco however, had not expected what happened next, so he was caught totally unaware. Stunned once more, he looked at what had happened. Not only had the tar exploded and covered everything around him, it had also blended with the feathers to make a sticky pulp.

"Nice. Real nice. You ruined my favorite robes! This stuff is permanent you know!" Alexas complained loudly, evaluating the damage.

"Permanent?" His hands flew to his face, where there was more of the odd concoction.

She sighed exasperatedly. "Not on skin or anything. Just fabric. A simple cleaning charm will remove it." She stood up haughtily. "Now I have to go and change! Thanks a lot you moron!" She stormed off to her dorm, slamming the door behind her.

After standing there for a moment or two, Draco moved off to change as well, only when he got back down to the common room did he realize what she'd said to him. He hurried to catch up with her and give him a piece of his mind.

Adrian was nervous. He always worked with Alexas in Herbology when they were in pairs, but she was late. "She probably slept in again." He thought gloomily as he tried to decide who he would end up being stuck with when the time came.

"Now I would like all of you to get into pairs and get to work." It seemed to Adrian that Professor Sprout had somehow known what he'd been thinking.

He turned to Michael Corner who quickly agreed to work with him. "Better you than a Slimeryn." Adrian laughed half-heartedly at that quip, still wondering where Alexas could be.

He was lucky enough to have his question answered only minutes later as Alexas hurried into the greenhouse followed closely by Draco Malfoy of all people. A momentary flash of jealousy surged through him, until he realized they were bickering fiercely.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your conversation, but you are both late to my class. Mister Malfoy? Miss McDougal? Are you listening?" Both of their heads snapped around at the mention of their names. "Please sit down and get to work, continuing our last lesson. As it requires students to work in pairs, you two can work together. I think you two deserve each other."

The two sat down each as far as possible from the other, took out their trowels and started to work in silence, not even looking at each other. And so it was in that way that the rest of the lesson passed. And it was because of this that Alexas decided to make sure she'd get him, and get him good.

* * *

A/N: Hee hee. Being evil is fun, is it not? R R!


	5. A Visit To Hogsmede For Most

"Yes! Finally! Hogsmede visit!" Alexas punched the air above her with her fist, full of energy.

Cliff looked at her sideways. "Why are you so stoked? It's not like we've never been before. I wouldn't be going if you hadn't asked me."

Adrian's eyes flicked around nervously. "Yeah, me neither." He stammered.

Alexas grinned wickedly. "I need to stock up on supplies from Zonko's. I'm gonna pull the mother of all pranks on Malfoy," she paused thoughtfully. "At least, as soon as I figure out what that is."

"So," Cliff said, leaning forward, suddenly businesslike. "Are we taking recommendations?"

"Got an idea?" she asked eagerly.

"Nope. I got nothing. Why?" he replied, his face bright and innocent.

"Thanks." Alexas rested her forehead in one hand and sighed exasperatedly. "What about you? Got anything Biggsly?"

Panicking, he stammered. "Me? You – you never ask me."

She looked up at him questioningly. "Well, I'm asking you now, aren't I? Got anything?" When he shook his head, she sighed again.

"Don't worry." Cliff said reassuringly. "We'll think of something."

* * *

Lying on his dorm bed, Draco sighed with relief. Everyone else in the dorm had gone to Hogsmede, and he finally had some time for himself. He opened the curtains of his four poster bed to let in a warming ray of sunlight through one of the high windows.

Unfortunately for him, he only had a few minutes of peace when the sharp screech of an owl roused him. It was one of the school's owls. As soon as he had taken the letter from its leg, it took off back to the owlery. "Hey! What if I want to send a reply!" he called after it, but the owl was long gone.

Scowling, he opened the letter. It read 'Draco. Come to my office immediately.' It was signed 'Professor Snape.' Draco was unsure if this note was genuine or not, but just to be safe, he headed off down towards the dungeons.

* * *

Alexas sighed, discarding yet another suggestion of Cliff's with a shake of her head. "There's nothing in here that's of any use to us!" she cried exasperatedly.

"You know," Cliff said casually, leaning against a wall; "I have a whole bunch of Wizarding Wheezes that I got from Fred and George."

Her face dropped. "You mean you've got lots of stuff already, and you didn't tell me!" She let out a cry of frustration. "That does it! I'm going back home!"

She stormed off without waiting for either of her friends. They merely looked at each other and shrugged, waited a few moments, then strolled out after her far enough to avoid running into her. By now they had both learnt not to try to understand her many moods, and just give her space.

* * *

Draco knocked cautiously on Snape's door. "Who is it?" he demanded abruptly.

Draco partially opened the door. "It's me sir. You sent for me?"

"Ah yes. Come in." He entered the room, still slightly wary. "Sit down Draco; I want to talk to you about something." Draco sat on the chair currently facing the desk, resolutely meeting Snape's gaze despite his twanging nerves. "As you know, these are turbulent times. Allegiances are being made and broken. Wizards from both sides hoard or trade information. Isn't that so?"

"Yes sir." he said, carefully keeping his face blank. Snape claimed to be a Death Eater, but his father had warned him to suspect Snape because of his closeness to Dumbledore.

"The smarter wizards know what side they want to help." Snape rested his elbows on the desk and pressed his fingertips together. "There isn't anything that you might like to inform me of, is there Draco?"

Draco swallowed heavily, trying not to show any emotion. "No sir."

Snape sighed. "Very well. You may go Draco." he said wearily, dismissing his with a wave of his hand.

Carefully controlling every movement, Draco stood up and walked as out of the room as quickly as he could without being obvious. He walked briskly for a couple of corridors, but then, unable to control himself anymore he broke into a run. He ran, not paying any attention to where he was going, not caring when he bowled over a heavily startled Professor Flitwick, scattering his load of books halfway down the corridor, not even noticing Crabbe and Goyle standing in the Great Hall. He just wanted to run forever, run from his life and never look back.

He only stopped when he physically couldn't run anymore. Draco flopped down onto the grass on his back. He lay there, catching his breath and watched the sun set. He stayed there watching the transition of day to night, and didn't move at all until the moon had trekked over halfway across the sky. He stood up, covered in dew and slowly traipsed his way back to his bed.

* * *

"That's the last of it." Cliff exclaimed, dumping the final armful of Wizarding wheezes products onto his bed.

"We do have transfiguration homework Alexas." Adrian scolded from behind his textbook.

"I think something this important deserves a higher priority than boring old homework." Alexas muttered, up to her elbows in pranks.

Adrian sounded mortally wounded. "Nothing is more important that studies! Honestly, sometimes I don't know why you were put in Ravenclaw."

Alexas ignored that remark. She was too busy in the realization that this was too big a prank. It would have to be done from scratch. It had to be something new. "It's no good." She sighed in defeat. "Well I might as well go and do my stupid homework then. Night guys." She walked slowly out of the room, closing the door behind her.


	6. Unknown Prince

"So what are you wearing to the ball?" Hannah Abbot's round, earnest face appeared over the side of Alexas' bed.

She opened one eye lazily, feigning ignorance. "Hmmm?" She shrugged, putting her arms up to rest behind her head. "Oh I don't know if I'm even gonna go." She looked from the dismayed face of Hannah to the equally dismayed face of Hermione. "What? The whole going to balls thing isn't really for me. I always end up standing against the wall on my own being bored."

"Don't worry about that." Hermione reassured her. "We'll be there to keep you company."

Alexas didn't sound totally convinced. "You sure about that?"

"Yeah! We promise!" Hannah paused reflectively. "But what are you going to wear? There's only four days to go."

She shrugged again. "I'll probably just throw something together on the day." At seeing the scheming looks on her dorm mates faces, she shrank back defensively. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

* * *

"PLEASE Draco!"

"Look, Pansy. You know I hate balls. I'm not going." He grimaced as he saw her eyes fill with tears. "Oh, don't cry." '_I can't stand the horrible noise._' He added silently to himself, still unable to work out why he still put up with Pansy.

"I won't cry if you promise to come." She whimpered.

Draco threw up his hands in defeat. "Fine. I'll go, I'll go."

* * *

For Alexas, the remaining time before B-Day flew by in a whirl of colors, designs and – often heated – discussions about what kind of makeup/dress/hairstyle would suit her best. And then there was the fiasco over what season she should be. (that being the theme) Unfortunately for her, she had no idea what was going on, all this carry-on made her feel as if she'd just crash landed on Planet Fashion where instead of speaking English, they spoke Pretiffion, a language which confused and disorientated her. Therefore she was very pleasantly surprised when she saw the finished product, a long flowing silver gown with sparkling icicles scattered over it. There was even a pair of matching icicle earrings. And her mask. What a mask. Glowing silver tinged with blue, perfectly framing her eyes and spiking out at the sides. All of this contrasted brilliantly with Alexas' black hair and dark eyes. Apparently, she was a winter.

Hermione, an autumn, was wearing a gown with leaves that rustled in a non-existent Breese. Hannah's dress was a mossy green and covered in flowers of all colors that opened or closed depending on where the nearest light sources were.

"You two," Alexas said in awe, "are geniuses. It's like the material itself was simply willed to look this amazing."

"You like it?" Hannah asked timidly.

"Like it? I love it. I've never felt this… pretty… in my entire life!"

Hermione took her arm. "Let's go show everyone else just how pretty you are then."

* * *

Pansy stood in the doorway and whined. "Draco, hurry up! I don't want to be late!"

"Don't worry; I'll meet you down there." He said, still pretending to have lost his outfit.

"But how will I find you? I don't even know what you're wearing!" Pansy seemed almost on the brink of panic. Draco couldn't understand for the life of him why this was so important to her.

"But I know what you're wearing, so I'll be able to find you." '_Fat chance of me actually doing that on purpose._' He added to himself.

Pansy squealed in delight and pounced on Draco, flinging her arms around his neck, although careful not to disturb her carefully constructed hair. "I'll see you soon." She flounced out the door to where one of her friends were waiting, and they went off together, already pre-gossiping, talking about what scandals they were predicting for the coming evening.

Draco briefly considered packing the whole thing in, and tell Pansy he hadn't been able to find her, but then decided that since he had something appropriate to wear, he might as well go anyway. There was no harm to be had in going for awhile, and he could always just avoid Pansy. She was usually too wrapped up in herself to think about anything else – except of course, the tabloid-type affairs of Hogwarts.

So he dressed quickly, putting on his new, simpler black dress robes that were lined with silver and a basic black opera mask. These plainer-than-his-usual-attire clothes would surely put Pansy off the trail. He took a deep, steadying breath and headed down.

* * *

Returning with punch in hand, Alexas was bewildered to find her companions gone. Looking around, she saw that Hannah was dancing exuberantly with Ernie Macmillan, and from the looks of it Ron had finally got up the courage to ask Hermione to dance; which they were doing rather awkwardly. It was so comic she would have laughed had it not been for the fact that she was abandoned on a sea of hormonal-driven teenagers for which she had no map or compass.

She sighed and leaned lightly against the wall behind her, watching the tides of emotion, but never being touched by them. This was something she was regrettably accustomed to.

She saw Pansy Parkinson sauntering past, surrounded by her squealing friends. That girl was easily recognized, mask or no. Alexas shook her head and muttered caustically "And I thought banshees wouldn't be allowed to come to school here."

Next to her, a youth wearing a basic black opera mask turned at her comment, looking at her like she was his personal savior. She was more than a little put off by this. "What?"

"I'm sorry; it's just so great to see someone in this place who isn't completely stupid." He said rolling his eyes and thinking mainly of Pansy.

She laughed. "A rare thing indeed. Everyone I know has been talking about nothing else for a whole week. I thought I'd been transported to some strange alternate dimension or something." A grin. "Not that that's a rare feeling."

He smiled, but something nagged at him, so he asked, "So if you dislike this so much, why are you here?"

Alexas shrugged. "You know, I honestly don't know. I kind of got roped into it. You?"

Draco hesitated, for some reason, he didn't want to tell this girl that it was Pansy that forced him to come, because that would make it blindingly obvious who he really was, and he was genuinely enjoying her company. "Just to check it out really, no harm in that." He lied smoothly.

"Oh." For some reason, this didn't seem to satisfy her and she seemed mildly suspicious of his answer. That didn't occupy her for long though, as she tilted her head to one side slightly, listening intently to the song that had just started. "Hey!" she exclaimed brightly, "I know this song."

"Then would you care to dance to it?" Draco asked, grandly offering her his hand.

She nodded and handed her cup to a random guy next to her, thoroughly startling him. "Certainly."

He led her out onto the dance floor and they danced. (as is generally done in this type of situation) They were still dancing four songs later, animatedly talking about everything from what they thought of different teachers to their favorite quidditch teams.

"You know what?" Draco said thoughtfully.

"Hmm?" Alexas… uh… hmmmed. (I couldn't think of any other word for it. Tee hee – I'm creating words!)

"We match." He pointed at her dress. "Blue." And then her hair. "Dark hair and eyes." His eyes lingered for a brief moment on hers, then he pointed down at his robes. "Black. And my eyes are blue."

She considered this for a while, her head tilted to one side. "But your hair's the wrong color. But I can fix that." She smiled at him, then spoke a couple of words into her hands and ran them through his hair. "That's better." she said, still smiling.

"What did you do?" Draco demanded, his hand flying protectively to check on his precious flowing locks. (Aha ha ha ha ha ha! Flowing locks!)

"Don't worry," she reassured him. "I only turned it blue, and the spell only lasts for around six hours. It's remarkably simple, but practically unknown. It does anything the caster wants – makes it clean, straight, spiky, whatever you want."

They continued to dance, but not talking now. Both of them just enjoying the comfortable silence. Draco heard the next song begin and chuckled softly. "Well that's kind of ironic." It was Frank Sinatra's 'Witchcraft'. She looked up at him questioningly, but he gave no answer. Instead, he just softly sang along. "Those fingers in my hair." She smiled at him shyly. "That sly, come-hither stare; that strips my conscience bare; it's witchcraft." He gently tightened his arms around her back, pulling her closer.

She sighed happily. "I'm really glad I came now." she said, resting her head on his shoulder. A few seconds later she yawned heavily.

"You tired?" he asked softly.

She shrugged. "A little." Looking up at him again, she gave a small smile.

"Shall we stop dancing then?" She nodded, and they went up the stairs to the balconies that had been added to the Great Hall for just that night. Draco still with his arm around the small of Alexas' back. He felt so relaxed with this girl, it was a fantastic feeling just to be himself and not have to pretend, ironic that it was because he was wearing a physical mask that allowed him to put aside his emotional ones.

"I'm really having a wonderful time." she said, resting her head on the shoulder next to her. She felt him pull her closer, but didn't mind. Usually anyone trying this would receive the 'curse of the day'. But then usually, she kept all her barriers up. Getting to know people meant having to tell them what she was, and most were unnerved by someone who could know exactly what they were feeling all the time. She'd only told Hermione because she was still a little off guard from Dumbledore's announcement, but she'd seemed to take it well enough, not treating her any different than anyone else. But this guy! For some reason, she felt like she didn't even need the walls. She reasoned to herself that it was probably because of the masks, although she still wondered who he could be. If only she knew.

While all this was going on in Alexas' head, Draco's thought train had been brought to a screaming halt. He'd just realized that for several minutes, he'd been just thinking about her, nothing else. How she was funny, how she was smart and how she was soooo beautiful. He had to know who she was. "So do I get to know your name?"

To this question, she only sighed and shook her head. Looking him in the eyes, she smiled sadly. "This is a masked ball. The whole point is the an- an- ano."

"Anonymity." he grimly finished her sentence. She nodded. "I know, but I've never met anyone else that I felt so at home with. You're an amazing person to be around."

Alexas nodded. "I know what you mean. But if you I told you who I am, you probably wouldn't think that. I don't want to take that chance and ruin the time we had tonight." She stood on tiptoe and pressed her lips to his. "Goodnight my unknown prince."

Draco watched her leave. He briefly considered following her to at least find out what house she was in, but turned back to look out at the grounds instead. He had to find her. But what had she meant by 'if I told you, you probably wouldn't think that'?

* * *

A/N: Bwaaaahahahahahaha! Ack! Cough cough! I told you evil was fun! R R!


	7. How Fragile A Good Mood Can Be

The next morning, Draco awoke in an unusually good mood. He decided to have a shower so he sprang out of bed, gathered up a few things and headed to the bathroom. Coming back to the dorm he very nearly walked straight into Harry Potter. "Potter? What were you doing in my dorm!" he exclaimed.

With a look of pure contempt, Harry shot back, "Now it's my dorm too, Malfoy."

Draco was about to get even when Alexas came bustling over. 'Oh great,' he thought, 'I'll bet she's about to harass me for abusing the wonderful hero that is Potter.'

Contrary to Draco's expectations, the target was not him, but Harry. "What do you mean it's your dorm now? You're not a prefect!"

Both boys were mildly shocked by this turn of events. "Dumbledore gave his permission." Harry mumbled.

But Alexas was in no way convinced. "This is the PREFECT common room. And you're not a prefect, so you shouldn't be in here." she maintained.

"Look," Harry said, his temper starting to bubble, "I'm as much of a leader of the school as you, prefect or not."

"For what!" she cried, throwing her hands up pleadingly. "Because you can catch the snitch! That doesn't make you special!"

"But I'm Harry POTTER!" Harry was now shouting in his frustration. (He really is easy to provoke, isn't he?)

Alexas calmly crossed her arms and said slyly, "And I thought you didn't like being famous." She leaned against the wall and sniggered as Harry threw his arms up in anger and stormed off, muttering about crazy girls.

Draco gave her an appraising look. Apparently, he wasn't the only one she enjoyed driving completely insane. It was good to see it happen to Potter too. "Nice." He said approvingly.

She looked back at him. "Thanks." She paused momentarily. "You're still a jerk." She stated and strolled off to her own dorm.

Draco shook his head in disbelief, and went up to put his things away. At breakfast, he was still determined to let nothing ruin his good mood. Not even Potter and McDougal. He was so focused on this that he barely heard the owls swoop in. He looked up just in time, as an owl he recognized as one of his father's dropped a letter on him narrowly managing to catch it before it fell onto his plate. He opened it apprehensively and began to read.

'Draco, the visit from your dear uncle has been postponed due to personal matters. You will now have to wait until the summer to see him. Be ready. If you are not, there will be dire consequences.'

He snorted in disgust and muttered under his breath, "How typical of him. Using 'uncle' as a code and ending with a threat." He threw the letter down on the ground and set fire to it with his wand, leaving a black mark. While glancing around to make sure no one had seen, he cleaned the mark up with the edge of his robes.

No longer hungry, he stood up and walked slowly out of the Hall. Without any sort of destination, he wandered aimlessly around the castle. '_So I've been given a reprieve. For now at least._' he thought glumly.

He looked around at his surroundings and worked out that he was only a couple of corridors away from the prefects' dorm. "As good a place as any, I suppose." When he turned the next corner, a first year saw him and took off. "Strange." he murmured, puzzled.

He walked through the door, only to see a sight all wizards dread. A circle of wands, all pointed directly at him.

Simultaneously all three of them raised their wands and cried, "_Altercis adherius!_" (Pronounced: all-ter-kiss add-hee-re-us)

Draco had no time to properly defend himself from this so he tried to dodge out of the way. But to no avail. The triple-strength spell hit him head on. Pulling out his wand and preparing to return fire he was stopped in his tracks as the entire common room erupted into riotous laughter.

Holding her stomach, still shaking with laughter, Alexas conjured up a mirror. What Draco saw there didn't make sense. It was him alright, but what had happened to his hair?

Alexas somehow managed to stop laughing just long enough to ask, "Okay, who did what? I made it pink. Who did the spikes?"

From the floor, Ron raised his hand and tried to say that it was him, but he couldn't make any kind of answer due to the guffaws that were raking his body.

"Oh yes," drawled Cliff. "I have always been rather partial to green."

And so it was Draco's hair was now a shade of shocking highlighter pink with bright green polka dots. To make matters worse, it was spiked up in random chunks. Gingerly, he raised one hand up to touch it. It felt like a rock. Tapping it even rendered a small hollow-sounding thunk.

Having no idea how to react to this, Draco simply walked up the stairs, went into the dorm, sat on his bed and closed the curtains. Only then did reality begin to sink in.

He tried everything he could think of that night. Pushing it down with his hands, gelling it down and even trying to tie it down with a scarf and stuff it under a hat. Nothing worked. At last, he completely ran out of ideas. There was no other remedy. At least tomorrow was a Sunday so he could go and see Madam Pomfrey and get her to do something about this.

So he collapsed on his bed and fell asleep to the sound of his three roommates still talking about his humiliation; his good mood officially and totally ruined.


	8. Dreams And Confessions

But Madame Pomfrey was of no help at all. "I'm sorry," she said, "but there's nothing I can do."

Draco's stomach dropped. "Nothing?"

She shook her head slowly. "I've never even heard of the spell that did this, so I don't know how to fix it."

"There's got to be something you can do!"

She looked down her nose at him. "Would you rather be bald?"

* * *

By the time Draco's hair had returned to normal, it was almost time for the Christmas holidays. They were only one night away. Draco was staying at Hogwarts this time, as his father was 'busy' so there was no need to be at the Manor to try (however much in vain) to protect his mother.

After dinner, he was approached by Crabbe and Goyle, both of them looking overly pleased with themselves. "What are you two so happy about?" he asked them.

Before either of them could even open their mouths to reply, Alexas came storming up.

Draco sighed. "What is it now McDougal?" he drawled wearily.

"You know damn well what it's about!" she shouted, pushing him hard. "If you've got something to say, say it to my face instead of sending your two pet gorillas here." she rounded on Crabbe and Goyle. "And you two! I bet you feel real manly after threatening one girl! You're all such IDIOTS!" Without even waiting for a reaction, she walked off, still muttering under her breath.

"What was that all about?" Draco asked his cronies quietly. His tone was dangerous, even the dull brains of Crabbe and Goyle couldn't fail to miss that.

"We– we just told her to leave you alone or there'd be trouble." Crabbe stammered.

"And you think I'm incapable of handling her myself?" his tone of voice still deadly. "Next time you have a brilliant idea like that, ask me first, you brainless buffoons." He left too, pushing over a third year Ravenclaw on his way out.

Her yells rounded on the hall as Goyle looked bewilderedly at Crabbe. "What was that about?" Goyle asked. But Crabbe only shrugged. This was far too complicated for him, but so was tying his shoelaces sometimes. (Has anyone guessed that I don't like these two?)

* * *

Darkness. A black void full of pain and loneliness. The sound of his father's voice echoed throughout the emptiness. "Your initiation will come soon." His face filled the horizon, contorted with displeasure. "Do not fail me again."

That image dissolved, only to be replaced with his mother's downcast face, her eyes brimming with tears. "We all have to do things we don't want to. It's probably best if you just do as he wants."

Then a slightly younger version of himself appeared. "But I don't know if I can do that."

The ensuing answer haunted him, and it had one so for several years now. "You may have to. I'd rather that others died if it meant I didn't, wouldn't you? Do you want to die?"

Draco awoke with a gasp, drenched with sweat. Freezing, he strained his ears for any noises. Hearing only the muted sounds of sleep, his dread of someone discovering his weakness subsided. Letting his head fall into his hands, he wept silently in the darkness.

Next he knew there were a pair of arms wrapped around his neck and a cheek pressed against his own. "Oh Draco, please don't cry." Alexas whispered as her tears mixed with his.

"You really are crazy. You're the one crying." He muttered as he surreptitiously wiped his other cheek with the back of his hand.

"Oh come on!" She said hotly, pulling back to look him directly in the eyes. "Your nightmare was so bad that it woke me up, and I could feel your pain all the way from my dorm." Her expression softened. "What was it that hurt you that badly?"

Draco thought for a moment that the question had almost sounded like she cared, but brushed it aside and asked one of his own. "What do you mean that you felt my pain?"

"Ah. I suppose there's nothing to be done here but to tell the truth. I'm an empath." From the look on her face, Draco could tell that she hadn't wanted to tell him, and was now awaiting his judgment.

"An empath?" A thought clicked into place within Draco's mind. "So that's how you were able to tell when I was lying."

She nodded. "Yep. At any one time, I can sense the emotions of about half the castle, or at least what the general trend is. That made first year really fun." She paused and shrugged wistfully, then went on. "Of course, at that stage, I could only recognize the baser emotions. Love, hate, fear, anger, that sort of thing."

Draco was intrigued. His curiosity overrode even the terrible memories of the dream. "So it's not all automatic?"

She shook her head regretfully. "No luck there. I had to painstakingly learn what all the others were like. My mum taught me." He voice filled with respect and awe. "You should see her; she has such total command of her power. I still have to be concentrating to be accurate."

"So what if you're not concentrating?" Draco asked, his mind afire.

"Well," she paused thoughtfully. "Sometimes everything just runs together in one big blur, and other times I don't even notice anything around me." She shrugged. "It all depends that's going on in my head at the time. Now," she said, fixing him with a piercing stare. "I've shared my secret, time for you to share yours. What was that dream of yours about?"

Draco looked away. Then he started to speak softly. "My father's always just assumed I'll become a Death Eater, he doesn't care whether I want to or not."

"Do you want to though?" She didn't quite know why, but all of a sudden this was incredibly important to her.

Draco chuckled, but there was no happiness in it. "When I was ten, I told him he could stuff it, I'd had enough. I wouldn't have cared if he'd killed me then. You know what he said?"

"What?" she whispered. She was crying again. Draco's pain was so intense, it was nearly killing her.

Draco bit his lip and took a deep breath. "He said if I disobeyed him, he wasn't going to kill me outright. He'd lock me and my mother up, and let us both starve to death."

"But she's his wife!" she hissed incredulously.

"Like that matters. He doesn't care about anyone or anything. Just power and how he can get more."

Alexas rested her hand on Draco's and squeezed it. "I'm so sorry, I didn't know."

Draco returned the pressure. "You're the only one outside of my family that does."

"Truce?" she asked tenuously.

His head whipped around. "What?"

"Truce." She said much more decidedly, extending her hand. "I thought you might like a real friend."

Without hesitating, Draco grasped her hand firmly and shook it to show that he agreed.

"Right, it's all settled then." She shivered, thought about it for a moment, then jumped under the covers.

"What the hell are you doing?" Draco shrank away from her as if her insanity was contagious.

"It's warm in here and cold out there. Duh!" this was said as if it were the most obvious fact in the world.

"You CANNOT stay in here."

"Fine then." she stood up haughtily. "But these are coming with me." She whipped the blankets off the bed and wrapped them around herself, leaving Draco sitting there in his boxers, dazed.

It took him a few moments to process this, but soon he was dashing off after her. When he got down to the bottom of the girls' dorm, he prepared himself for the task of pulling himself up by the handrail. But it was unnecessary as his blankets hit him right in the face.

Alexas smiled down from the top of the staircase. "No more bad dreams, okay?"

As she turned and shut the door, Draco wondered whether or not this new truce was a good or a bad thing.

* * *

A/N: Ah, but will this truce last? I'm not telling... Well obviously I will later, but I'm not telling you right this second so nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah! (Sorry. Got a major dose of the night-crazies. Please R R!)


	9. It's An Important Thing To Remember

Draco awoke the next morning only to find a note sitting on his bed. Still groggy from sleep, he broke the seal and opened it.

It read: 'Be at the tree on the lake's northern shore by nine am. Come alone and tell no one.' That was all it said, there was no signature or anything, just those two sentences.

Draco looked at the clock and groaned. It was a quarter to nine already. Figuring that the note had probably been sent by his father, he stumbled out of bed and dressed quickly.

He got there at one minute to. No one was there yet, so he just stood there stamping his feet to keep out the cold. He heard a small rustle in the branches above him, and looked up just in time to see the giant snowball that got him right in the face.

Alexas jumped down from inside the branches. "Morning." She said impishly. "Like the note?"

"About as much as you'll like this!" he retorted, dropping his shoulder and tackling her, sending her plunging into a nearby snow bank. He expected her to come out a spitting ball of fury, but she only laughed and threw a snowball at him. "Oh, so a snowball fight is what you want is it?" he said, returning fire.

The next half hour was a blur of flying snow and laughing. By the end of it, the two of them were drenched and completely exhausted. Making their way back to the common room to dry off, both of them had got the giggles. As soon as they would manage to get themselves under control, they would look at each other and it would begin all over again.

At one point, they ran into Professor Sprout, who was extremely surprised to find to students who she had thought hated each other, wandering along the corridor soaked and laughing. She would have said something, but as soon as they both saw the look on her face, the laughing just got worse. 'Just leave it alone.' She thought to herself as she walked away. 'Just leave it alone.'

Once inside the common room, Alexas went upstairs to change. About to follow suit, Draco paused. He conjured up a pair of blankets and two steaming goblets of hot chocolate with marshmallows, then went to find something dryer.

Pulling his robes over his head, he heard Alexas' squeal of delight. He chuckled and shook his head; she was just like a little kid.

By the time he got down there, she was already in the armchair nearest the fire wrapped in a blanket.

"Good idea this." she said, sipping the hot chocolate. "Come get warm." she added, motioning towards the armchair next to her. "I won't be hard, nobody's here but us, so we can get the best chairs for ourselves."

"And there's no need to pretend I don't care that everyone in the room is wishing that their looks could kill." Draco said dryly.

Alexas looked at him, puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, come on! Almost everyone in this school hates me for the jerk they think I am. Sometimes I almost forget how to be myself. I'm just so used to being arrogant and nasty all the time."

"But that's not you." She smiled at him reassuringly. "That creep you have to pretend to be isn't who you truly are."

"How can you be so sure?"

"I'm an empath remember? So I know what's really in here." She touched a finger to his chest.

A smile crept slowly over his face. "Thanks."

"You're very welcome." She said, returning his smile. They just sat there for a few moments, not saying anything until she broke from his gaze, suddenly uncomfortable. She stood up quickly, leaving the blanket where it lay on the floor and depositing her goblet down there next to it. "I have to go, I- uh have to go and put the finishing touches on my presents for my friends." She said without looking at him and hurried off to her dorm.

"What was all that about?" Draco asked the closed door.

Alexas leaned against the door and sat down slowly. She looked over to her bed, where the two completely finished presents sat, as if accusing her. Why had that freaked her out so much? It's not like she was falling for him; that just wasn't physically possible.

* * *

"It's Christmas! It's Christmas!" Draco groaned as his bed jolted when Alexas jumped exuberantly onto it. "It's Christmas!" she repeated.

"Okay, okay. It's Christmas, now what do you want?" he mumbled sleepily.

"Presents!" she said, as if this were blatantly obvious.

Draco shook his head, but still rolled over and retrieved her gift from the cupboard in his bedside table. "Here." He grunted, tossing the gift over to her.

Once she ripped off the paper, Alexas gasped. "Wow! This is the newest release from Wizarding Wheezes! This is cutting-edge stuff! Oh," she said rustling about in her robe. "I almost forgot. This is for you." She handed him a small silk bag. Inside it was a silver ring. Draco inspected the inscription.

"Never forget who you truly are." He read. He looked at her, awestruck, now completely awake. "This is the nicest thing anyone's ever given me."

"I thought about what you said last week, and so I had mum get this made for you. It can be a reminder for when things get bad."

"Thanks." He said, slipping onto his finger. "So what is the game plan for today?"

She shrugged. "Well I have to go up to the owlery to post my mum's present. You wanna come with?"

"It's not like I have anything else to do."

Peering through the rows of perches, Alexas called out, "Quoth!" Out of the semi-darkness came a raven. She turned to Draco. "This is my raven, Quoth. Isn't he beautiful? He's named after that poem The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe. But don't say it."

"Don't say what?"

"The N-word." She replied tersely.

"Nevermore?" he asked, and was duly rewarded with a sharp peck on the hand.

"I did tell you not to say it." She said matter-of-factly. "He must like you though."

"What? Why?"

"Well, you've still got all your fingers, haven't you?"

* * *

A/N: Did you ever see the episode of Fairly Odd Parents where Timmy wished it would be Christmas every day? And it ended up sucking? If I ran the universe it would be Christmas every third day. The others would be my birthday and easter. And we'd all be horribly fat. Hmmm. Maybe not such a good idea. R R!


	10. He he's dead?

Professor Sprout smiled at her class. "Welcome back, all of you. I hope you had a good Christmas." She started hunting around for something. "Hmmm, now where did I put that roll?"

While she was occupied with this, she didn't notice Draco and Alexas creep in and sit down casually as if they'd been there the whole time.

Adrian waved at Alexas and motioned to her that he'd saved her a seat, but to his surprise, she mouthed, "that's okay" and gave him the thumbs up.

It took him a while to process this, but when it did hit him, it hit hard. He'd just been blown off for Draco Malfoy. Malfoy of all people! He spent the rest of the class sneaking glances at them. They actually seemed to be having fun, because whenever he looked they seemed to be whispering to each other and giggling. This was just too much. What could have happened in two weeks for them to be like this?

* * *

Later that day, Draco and Alexas, not being able to think of anything else to do, were sitting in the library. Alexas was flipping a sickle up and catching it. "Call it." She said.

"Heads."

She looked at it. "Right again. You have some uncanny skill at this." She tilted her chair back and rested her head on the wall. "I am so mind-numbingly bored right now."

"What do you wanna do?" he asked. But she only shrugged. Draco got a devious look in his eye. "What about pulling a prank on Cliffard? I owe him at least one."

She laughed. "If you owe him one, you owe me way more."

"I tell you what, you help me I'll wipe the slate clean. Fancy being an accomplice to the crime?"

"Deal. Now," she said, grinning evilly, "what we need first is…"

* * *

"Hey Cliff," Alexas said casually, "I forgot to give this to you. It was supposed to be part of your Christmas present, but I forgot about it." She tossed him a prefect badge.

From across the room Draco yelled. "That's my badge! Give it back right now or else you'll regret it!"

"Really?" Cliff said. "And why is that?"

"Oh, no reason." He replied casually as Cliff's robes suddenly turned into a pink ballerina's tutu. "Just that." He laughed. "That's not even my badge." He pulled out his real badge, putting it back to its rightful place on his robes.

Cliff stood up slowly and the whole room tensed, expecting a fight. But instead, Cliff seized Draco's hand and shook it vigorously. "Well done! You have bested the master!" He leaned in close and whispered, "You have no idea what you've just done, do you?" Then he smiled again. "You just wait till I think of something." He waggled a finger under Draco's nose. "Then you'll be sorry." He marched off huffily, dragging Adrian behind him as he went.

Alexas watched this display, laughing. That had done its job in relieving the boredom. But something was nagging at her. She could feel deep grief coming from Hermione, Ron and Harry. She walked over to them cautiously and touched Hermione on the shoulder to get her attention. "I'm sorry."

Hermione was very puzzled by this. "What for?"

"For your loss. You must have cared a lot for them. If it's not too rude to ask, who was it?"

Hermione looked at Harry asking him silently for his permission. He shrugged as if to say he didn't mind. So she told Alexas. "It was Sirius Black. He was Harry's godfather."

Alexas looked like she'd been punched. "What?" she said disbelievingly. "That can't be true."

"Do you think we'd lie about something like that!" Harry snapped angrily.

But she had no reply. She only ran off out of the common room.

"She's crazy that one." Ron said.

Draco followed her out into the corridor where she was standing with her head against the wall, muttering one phrase over and over. "He can't be dead."

"Alexas? Are you okay?"

She spun around to face him. "No I'm not okay! Just leave me alone!" She pushed Draco down and sped off down the corridor.

* * *

He eventually found her sitting in the astronomy tower, tears in her eyes. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"My father." She sobbed. "My father is dead."

"What? How do you know that?"

She looked at him sadly. "Sirius Black was my father. I never even got to meet him and… and now I never will." She turned back to the grounds. "And I'm going to have to tell my mother." She whispered.

Draco didn't know what to say. There was nothing he could think of that would make this any better. So he just wrapped his fingers around hers in an effort to comfort her.

She smiled at him weakly through the tears. "Thanks."


	11. Valentine's Day It's not just about the...

Due to small class size, all the houses were put in together in Sixth Year Arithmancy. This meant it was another class that that Draco and Alexas shared.

In a quiet moment, Adrian leant over to Alexas and whispered, "What's the deal with you and Malfoy? You're being awfully friendly all of a sudden."

Draco and Alexas shared a look that said, 'you've GOT to be kidding.'

"What are you, nuts?" Alexas asked him. "We just decided to bury the hatchet, that's all." Adrian didn't look too convinced. "Do you think I would lie to you?"

"Well, no." he said reluctantly.

"Then trust me."

* * *

At dinner, Draco sat at the Slytheryn table, surrounded by the usual butt-kissers. He could see the whole of the school and it was sickening. Half of them were fidgeting looking like they had to face down a dragon when all they had to do was give a card to someone. The other half was just as bad; making use of a time that should be for eating looking doe-eyed at someone else.

Blaise had his usual little floozy, this year she was a fourth year who was gushing about how cool he was and how she thought someone like him would've never even looked at her. Draco very nearly told her just why he was interested. Blaise had this habit of collecting girls' hearts – and their first times. After that, he completely ignored them. Sometimes, the people Draco got associated with really made him want to hurl.

A paper plane collided with the side of his head. Looking around, he saw Alexas waving and miming throwing a plane. Then she made motions of opening something.

Realizing what she wanted, he unfolded the plane and read the message inside. It said; 'What's up? You look as if you're about to jinx someone.'

He pulled a quill out of his bag and added; 'I'm just tired of watching everyone making kissy-faces.' He re-folded it and sent it back.

When Alexas read the message, she smiled. Setting it to flight once more with 'Sickening, isn't it?' Then she sighed, thinking about Valentines only reminded her that she didn't have one. Her thoughts drifted back to the ball. She just couldn't stop wondering who it was that she had spent that night with. It kept popping up at random moments when she wasn't expecting it.

She actually caught herself wishing that she had de-masked. "Oh come on. Like it would've worked." She muttered to herself.

"What was that?" Adrian asked.

"Never mind. It was nothing."

Sickening. Draco supposed that it was, but right now, he wouldn't mind doing it himself. Especially if it was with that girl he'd met at the ball. If only he'd followed her, maybe he could've found out who she was. Who was he kidding? As soon as she had found out who he was, she would've been repulsed.

He was just so sick of what he had to pretend to be. He didn't need to pretend around Alexas, but it just wasn't the same. Maybe she knew who that girl was, or could help him find her. He made a mental note to ask her about it sometime.

* * *

Later that night, everyone was just sitting around in the Prefect common room amusing themselves in various ways.

Alexas looked up from her transfiguration homework at Ron and Cliff playing wizard's chess. "Hey Draco?"

Draco stopped staring into space. "What?"

She pointed at the two locked in the battle on the board. "Look at them. Cliff's first name is Roger and his is Ron."

"Yeah, so?"

"They both start with R. They both like Wizarding chess, and are both prefects. It's almost like they're the same person."

He rested his chin in one hand. "Except that they're completely different."

"Alright. So apart from the fact that they're totally different, they're exactly the same." Their eyes met and Alexas grinned. It was so infectious that Draco couldn't help returning it.

"Hey Cliff!" she called suddenly. "You know that you're only fighting yourself?" They looked at Cliff's puzzled face, then each other again and burst into laughter.

When the laughter died off, Alexas turned back to her homework. She tried to keep her mind on it, but somehow she just couldn't concentrate. Her thoughts just kept drifting back to the ball. She remembered how peaceful it had felt just to sway to the music in her unknown prince's arms. With out realizing she was doing it, Alexas began softly humming Frank Sinatra's 'Witchcraft'.

Draco was pulled away from his thoughts when his ears registered that song. "Why are you humming that?" he asked.

She started. "Oh, sorry. I didn't realize I was."

"You didn't answer my question."

"Just remembering a happy memory." She said evasively. "I'm going to go finish this in bed. There's too much noise in here." She said hastily, making him think that it wasn't the real reason she wanted to leave. Just because she could sense other people's emotions didn't mean she was good at hiding her own.

Then he thought about what the song was. Could it have been her? He chuckled to himself at that. The mere idea of it was absurd.

* * *

A/N: They're both so stupid, aren't they? R R!


	12. Suspicions

"Happy birthday to… me. Happy birthday to… me. Happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday to… ME!"

"Okay, okay. We get the point, it's your birthday." Draco was being driven crazy. Alexas had been singing that all morning and it didn't look like she was going to get tired of it anytime soon. For once he was glad they were in different houses, at least he wouldn't have to put up with her during lunch. Draco sat down gratefully at the Slytheryn table.

"See you later!" Alexas called as she walked over to the other Ravenclaws.

Alexas sat down and cheerfully loaded her plate high with food. About to tuck in, she felt a timid nudge on her shoulder.

"Happy birthday." Adrian mumbled, not meeting her eyes. He handed her a small present, still not looking at her.

Alexas sighed inwardly as she unwrapped it. He was like this every year. Even though she had known about Adrian's feelings since the start – probably before he himself had realized – she just couldn't bring herself to shoot him down. That was why she was so harsh with him. It was just her way of trying to give him a not-so-subtle hint.

When she clasped eyes on the gift, she gasped. "This is amazing." She said breathlessly. It was a silver necklace, the pendant a raven with silver eyes. "Adrian, I- I can't accept this. It's too much."

His heart jumped, she had used his first name! This was too good to be true. "Keep it." He said. "You deserve it." To himself he thought, "She actually smiled at that. Smiled. Warmly. At me!" He could scarcely believe his luck.

She held it out. "Can you put it on for me?" She swept her long hair off her neck and looked at him expectantly.

Adrian could hardly keep his fingers from shaking as he tried to do up the clasp on the necklace. It really had been worth every sickle. "There. All done."

She flicked her hair back over her shoulder. "Thanks. You know how useless I am at doing those things up."

He swallowed. It was now or never. There would never be a moment more perfect than this to tell her. "Alexas, I-"

He got no further than that. Her head spun around suddenly. "Hold that thought Biggsly; I have to go check on something." She swore quietly under her breath, this would require serious damage control. From what she could feel from Draco, he was about to rip out someone's throat.

Draco gritted his teeth, holding onto his fork so hard the handle was digging into his palm. Watching that fool sucking up to Alexas was driving him crazy. He could see her coming towards him; she had doubtlessly felt his rage. He tried to take deep breaths to calm down, but to no effect.

Adrian watched her retreating back gloomily. Once again, he'd been blown off for that scum. Not wanting to watch, he got up from the table and left the hall.

Alexas pushed her way to a seat next to Draco at the Slytheryn table. A second year she had shoved cried out in indignation, but a death glare silenced her and she turned back to her lunch wordlessly.

"Draco, what the heck is going on?" she hissed.

"Nothing."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah sure. That's why that fork is practically bent double."

He slowly opened his hand, staring at the bent utensil as if he'd never seen one before in his life. She was right; it was almost bent in half.

"What got you so mad? You didn't even get this angry when we altered your hair." She chuckled, remembering his shock.

"I don't even really know myself." He said quietly.

By instinct, Alexas started berating him for trying to lie to her. "That was a blatant-" She paused. Something wasn't right about this. "Wait, that wasn't a lie at all. How can you not know?"

He shrugged. "I just don't." And he didn't. Why HAD that upset him so much? It's not like he was going out with Alexas. What was going on? He shook his head. "It's probably just the stress, that's all." He thought. "Yes that must be it. Stress."

* * *

Hermione was in the common room, making some pamphlets for S.P.E.W. before breakfast when Alexas stumbled in, still half asleep. "Morning Alexas." She said.

"Muh." Was the grunted reply. She plopped down in the chair next to Hermione and rested her chin in her hands. She pulled out her wand and conjured up a little hand mirror. Sighing at the state of her reflection, she said, "I really should wash my hair, but I can't be bothered." She spoke the _altercis adherius_ charm into her hands and ran them through her hair. As her hands passed through it, it became smooth, shiny and clean.

From the other side of the room, Draco looked up. A hair-altering spell? But…

"Hey Hermione? What do you think I'd look like as a blonde?" Alexas asked. When she got no answer, she did the spell again, this time changing its color. After looking in the mirror critically, she shook her head. "No. It's not really me."

As Alexas changed her back to its natural color again, Hermione looked on in wonder. "How did you do that?" she asked incredulously.

"It's the spell that we used to change Draco's hair. It's quite simple, and it changes your hair to whatever you want it to be for a day. All you do is say _altercis adherius_ into your hands and think about the change you want to make. Then just run your hands through your hair. Try it." She prompted

"Okay." Said Hermione. She spoke the spell into her hands and ran them through her hair, thinking about what she wanted to happen as instructed. When she was finished, Alexas handed her the mirror. Looking into it, she was astonished. Her hair was exactly as she had wanted it, straight and long. So much that it had gained almost a whole foot simply from having the curls removed.

"Wow," Alexas commented approvingly, "it looks really good like that."

"Do you really think so?" Hermione asked timidly.

"You look fantastic. Go show it off to all those Gryffindors!"

"Okay." She replied, getting up. "Thanks for this. I'll see you later!" she called as she left for breakfast.

Alexas got up and walked over to where Draco was sitting – completely stunned. "Hey, how about some food?" She got no answer. "Helooooooo? Anyone home in Draco-Land?"

That comment shook him out of his shocked trance. "Yeah, okay." He said, still a little shaken. "It WAS her!" he thought to himself. "How could I have been so blind?"

* * *

As they made their way down to the Great Hall, Alexas got more and more worried about Draco. Anytime she tried to talk to him, he would vaguely mumble something off topic if anything at all. She decided to test him.

"Hey Draco, so you wanna make out with Cliff sometime?"

"Yeah sure." He muttered. "Wait, what?" he said, suddenly being dragged back into reality.

Alexas shrugged. "I figured that was the only way I'd get your attention today. You haven't heard a single thing I've said this morning. What's on your mind?"

"Nothing, nothing." He said dismissively, lying through his teeth. "_I can't possibly tell her._" He thought. "_She'd freak out. She doesn't even really need to know herself._" He reassured himself, knowing even as he thought it that it was far from the truth. While walking through the doors, he was snapped out of his thoughts again when Alexas made a noise of sheer frustration.

"You're doing it again!" she hollered. "Look, if something's going on, you can tell me. But if you don't want to, then I can't deal with you! I'll see you later okay?"

She looked at him one last time with concern before sitting down at the Ravenclaw table and greeting Cliff and Biggsly, leaving Draco to go off to the Slytheryn table on his own.

Not really hungry, Draco distractedly pushed his food around his plate with his fork. He knew that he'd eventually have to tell her, but didn't know when – or how for that matter.

"What's wrong Drakie?" Pansy simpered.

He sighed. "Nothing Pansy, I'm just not hungry." He said, rather dejectedly, not even having the presence of mind to snap at her. He covered this up by pointing up at the morning mail delivery. "Look, that's your mother's owl."

As Pansy opened her letter, he continued to stare aimlessly up at the mass of owls, all delivering mail to students. It was then that he saw the ultimate bearer of bad news, one of his father's owls. A knot tightened in his stomach, making his even less hungry. He took the letter off its leg with a heavy heart, but when he went to open it, he couldn't bear to. "_I'll do it later._" He thought, not wanting to read it where the whole school could see him.

He stashed it away in his pocket, vowing to read it later that night and tried to put it out of his mind. It didn't work. He spent the entire day worrying about it; it felt like it would burn a hole in his robes. He couldn't stop putting his hand on it to check that it was still there.

During dinner, still barely eating, he didn't notice that Alexas kept looking over at him, obviously worried. Time and time again she tried to catch his eye and failed.

When Draco walked out of the hall, heading for his bed, the one refuge he had to finally read the cursed thing, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned and saw Alexas behind him and was reminded of the night she come to comfort him, her eyes were shining with the same concern.

"What's going on? I've been able to feel you fretting about something all day, even across half the bloody castle." She asked softly.

"I don't want to talk about it here." He said abruptly. "Follow me." He led her to an abandoned classroom, the same, in fact, as the one he had used to sulk in the past over his quidditch loss to her.

Sitting down heavily on a desk, he ran his hands through his hair and said haltingly, "I… got another letter… from my father."

"What's it say?"

"That's the problem. I don't know. I still haven't opened it."

"Is it really all that's bothering you?" she asked, sitting down beside him and looking at him questioningly. "You were distracted way before the mail arrived."

He looked up at her sharply, alarmed. "I- I don't want to talk about that!" he stammered.

Alexas spread her hands wide in an effort to pacify him. "Oooookay. You don't have to tell me if you don't want, I won't force you. So what about this letter? Do you want to open it now?"

"I suppose now is as good a time as ever." He said reluctantly. Taking it from its resting place, he broke the seal. He swallowed hard and took a deep breath, then began to read.

'Draco, your uncle will arrive at the start of your second week of holidays. Be prepared.'

"Uncle?" She said, confused. She saw the look on his face. "Sorry. I know it's a bad habit to look over other people's shoulders."

"No, it's okay. 'Uncle' is code for the Dark Lord. His 'visit' will be my initiation." He put his head in his hands. "I knew this was coming, I just didn't know it would be so soon."

"You don't have to do it you know. Go to Dumbledore. He'd fix it." She suggested.

"You don't know my father. It would be too dangerous. Not just to me, to everyone I care about." He looked up. "That includes my mum and you too."

"Hey," she smiled, "I'm a big girl. I can handle myself."

"What about my mother though?"

"Well look," she said, "you don't have to decide right now. Just think about it okay? And no matter what you choose, I'll be here to help." She put a comforting arm around his shoulders.

Draco nodded, leaning slightly into her. "What would I do without you?" he joked.

"Probably go crazy and commit mass murder." She retorted. They both chuckled for a few moments before settling back into a comfortable silence, both absorbed in their thoughts.

* * *

A/N: So what do you think? Aren't they cute. They'll be even cuter if Draco actually manages to suck up the courage to tell Alexas what he knows. R R!


	13. Ah, stress It's a magical thing, isn't ...

Exams. They're stressful enough for anyone. But when you are a receptor of all the emotions around you, it's a lot worse. The fact that the entire castle was worked up always drove Alexas crazy, sometimes even Cliff and Adrian had to avoid her, she just got to difficult to deal with.

At the time in question, Alexas was pacing up and down the common room, fidgeting with her hands and robes.

"Sit down." Cliff commanded.

She complied, but it wasn't for long, and after a few minutes of restlessly shifting she stood back up. It didn't take long from there until she was back to pacing.

"What's wrong Alexas?" Adrian asked.

"I'll tell you what's wrong!" she snapped. "Exams are coming up! I'm not ready, I haven't worked hard enough. And why aren't you studying!" she accused.

"I- I'm taking a break." He stuttered, affronted.

It was then that Draco came down from the dorm. He took one look around, taking in the scene that was unfolding, turned straight back around and went back up.

"A break!" Alexas shrieked. "There's no time for breaks! I have to get to the library." She ran out, leaving the entire common room confused in her wake.

"Why is she always like this at exam time?" Adrian asked, bewildered.

Cliff shrugged. "No idea. You could go ask her. If you want to risk your neck that is."

* * *

In the library, Alexas closed the book she'd been trying to study from with a sigh. This was always the worst time of year. It wasn't the exams themselves, she always passed with no problems; it was just how jittery she always got. And she'd yelled at Cliff and Biggsly again.

She started whacking the book against her forehead in frustration. "Stupid… exams… why… can't… they… just… go…. away!" she muttered through her teeth in between whacks.

She put down the book. "This is hopeless. I suppose I should go back and apologize too."

She got up slowly and put her book back on the shelf, then headed back to the common room.

She breathed a sigh of relief when upon returning, she saw that they hadn't moved from the couch she had left them in. "Hey guys." She said, sitting down between the two of them. "I just wanted to apologize for being so crazy before. The stress just got to me, I guess."

"Not a worry." Cliff said expansively. "And I'm sure our fine friend Adrian here forgives you as well."

Adrian nodded fervently. Even if he hadn't forgiven her, he didn't want to provoke her.

"Only, don't do it again." Cliff added in mock-sternness.

Alexas smiled. "I'll try not to. I'm gonna go to bed early tonight; see if I can actually get some sleep. Night."

As Alexas dug around in her trunk looking for her pajamas she heard a voice come from Pansy's bed.

"Hey," Pansy said, "I just want to give you a friendly warning about something."

"About what?" Alexas asked, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. Something about this just didn't feel right.

"Stay away from Draco." Pansy threatened as she got off her bed and walked towards Alexas. "He's mine and I won't let anyone take him away from me. Especially," she added with a sneer, "not some crazy bitch from Ravenclaw."

"Okay. Three things." Alexas said, trying her best to stay calm. "One: he's not your property. Two: I think he can make his own decisions. And three: we're just friends."

"Oh come on!" Pansy scoffed. "You're all over him! Sneaking off with him all the time. But then, what more could you expect from the bastard daughter of a wanted criminal?"

In a flash, Alexas had Pansy pinned up against the wall, her hand gripping Pansy's neck. "Did you know Sirius Black was cleared of all charges?" she hissed dangerously. "Most people don't. Maybe I should live up to my family expectations?" She let her go and Pansy sunk to the floor, one hand to her neck in shock.

"I'll tell you this though." She said casually as she left the room. "Badmouth my father again and I'll curse you into oblivion."

She left then, running out of the common room, past her friends and out into the corridors. She ran until she could barely breathe. Sitting down with her head up against the stone wall, she sighed. She really shouldn't have let her temper get the best of her like that, and now she'd have to deal with the consequences.

* * *

After about twenty minutes, Draco came along and sat beside her. "Hey." He said quietly. "I talked to Pansy. She won't tell anyone what happened."

"How'd you convince her?" Alexas asked.

"What can I say?" Draco said with mock confidence, cracking his knuckles. "I've got the magic."

"Thanks." She said, smiling weakly. She rested her head back against the wall. "How did you find me anyway?"

"That's quite an interesting story actually. When Pansy came down and started yelling all kinds of things and I had to calm her down to talk her out of going to Professor Snape, Granger ran up into the boys' dorm, then came back and told me exactly where you were. I have no idea how she knew."

"I do." She replied. "Harry has a map that can show where people are. Hermione told me about that once. I must remember to thank her."

Draco stood up, took hold of Alexas' hand and pulled her up too. "Come on. It's almost nine thirty. We'd better get back or we might get in trouble."

She nodded, and they set off together, neither of them talking. They had gone only a few meters before Draco realized that he was still holding onto her hand. He let go hurriedly, feeling uncomfortable.

She felt his discomfort and shot him a questioning look, but didn't pursue her enquiry any more than that. She wasn't going to press the issue.

* * *

Exams were only one day away and Alexas was feeling worse than ever. She couldn't calm down enough to do anything at all. Spending most of her time pacing, she'd barely eaten or slept over the past week, and was looking sick and gaunt. She jumped when Draco tapped her on the shoulder.

"Come with me." He said. "I have a surprise for you." He led her out of the common room and down the hallway into one of the many unused classrooms. There was a steaming goblet giving off a silver vapor on one of the desks.

"What's this?" she asked.

"It's the Draught of Peace. I thought you could use it." He replied. "I asked Professor Snape to make it for me."

"Thanks." She said breathlessly. "I never would've thought of that." She threw her arms around his waist and buried her head in his shoulder. "I know I've been really crazy lately, thanks for putting up with me."

"That's okay." He said, instinctively wrapping his arms around her to pull her closer. "_Her hair smells of jasmine._" He thought to himself. Suddenly realizing the track his thoughts were on, he pulled away from her hurriedly; enable to meet her puzzled gaze. He tried to cover up his nervousness by handing her the goblet.

Alexas was bewildered by the way he'd been behaving lately, sometimes he was jumpier that she was. But she shrugged it off, if he really wanted to tell her, then he would. Raising the goblet to her lips, she downed the whole lot in one big gulp and sighed with relief as she felt it take effect immediately, all nervousness leaving her in one big rush.

She sighed in contentment, but then all her exhaustion from the past week caught up with her and she swayed suddenly.

Draco caught her elbow to hold her steady. "What's wrong?" he asked, concern radiating from his face.

"I'm fine." She said placatingly. "Just really, really tired. I'm going straight to bed."

He nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow. I have to take the goblet back to Professor Snape."

"Night. And thanks again Draco."

He watched her leave, then sat down on a desk. He rubbed his temples with his fingertips, sighing in frustration. "I have to get past this." He told himself. "Even if she knew what I did, it wouldn't change things."

He picked up the goblet and slowly made his way out of the room and down to the dungeons to return it to Professor Snape's office as he had promised.

* * *

During their last exam, History of Magic, Alexas was having difficulty keeping her mind on the essay about the founding of the International Confederation of Wizards that she was supposed to be writing. The question of what was plaguing Draco had been on her mind lately.

Any time she brought it up, he tried to act like nothing was wrong. She rolled her eyes. "_When is he going to learn that you can't lie to an empath?_" she thought exasperatedly. Looking up and seeing how little time was left, she winced and got back to work.

* * *

When the exam was finally over, almost everyone went out to enjoy the summer sun. Draco and Alexas however, decided to go up to the prefects' common room for a little solitude after the ordeal they had just been through.

"Man am I glad that's all over." Draco said, relieved, sinking into the couch.

"Until next year anyway." Alexas groaned, throwing herself onto the couch sideways.

Draco looked down at her and swallowed nervously. She didn't seem to notice that she had just draped herself right over his lap. This really wasn't fair. He stood up to dislodge her, and she hit the floor.

"What was that for?" she whined, not even trying to get up from where she was lying face-first.

"I just realized I forgot to give back some notes I borrowed from Blaise."

"But the exams are over. It doesn't matter anymore."

"I should return them anyway." He said, hurrying out.

Alexas sighed from the floor. There was just no reasoning with him. Eventually she was just going to have to confront him and force the truth out of him, but just couldn't be bothered. Slowly she dragged herself up off the ground and made her way wearily off to her bed and blessed sleep.

* * *

A/N: Ah, the plot thickens does it not? Pretty-please R R!


	14. Goodbye to Cliff

A/N: I haven't gotten any reviews for this fic lately. sobs You don't love me! If you're reading this, then I use my jedi powers on you to make you review. You will review.

* * *

"Okay, so far I have Arithmancy, Herbology, Charms, Transfiguration and Care of Magical Creatures. I still need one more thing." Alexas said thoughtfully, tapping her quill against her chin, her eyes scanning over the list. "What do you think I should take Draco?"

He shrugged. "What do you want to do when you get out of Hogwarts?"

"That's the problem. I've never been able to decide. Eh, I'll just take DA." She ticked the appropriate box. "There, that's finally over." She put down her quill and the piece of parchment and sat back. "So have you decided what you're gonna do?" she asked.

"I already told you what classes I chose." He said confused.

"I didn't mean about that." She said, looking at him meaningfully. She glanced around to make sure that no one was within hearing distance. "Your initiation." She said in hushed tones.

Draco sighed. He had decided, and that was the problem. "I'm gonna go through with it."

"What! Why?" she hissed.

"I have to. If I don't, it will put everyone I know and care about in danger. I can't take that risk."

"What about the other risk? You could end up turning into what you hate. How long do you think it will take before you become a hollow shell, knowing only pain?" she said sharply.

Draco looked at her, completely shocked. He'd never heard her speak so ardently. His resolve to do what everyone expected of him crumbled in the face of her questioning. What if he did end up like his father? Would he be able to live with himself if that happened?

Alexas sighed. "Look," she said, her voice softening, "If this is what you feel you have to do, then I won't tell you otherwise. Just be careful okay?"

Draco nodded in answer to her request. He could see the worry in her eyes and it was at that moment that he realized just how much it meant to him to have someone he knew that he could depend on, no matter what.

* * *

Alexas sat in the Grand Hall, feeling numb. In all that had happened recently, it had completely slipped her mind that this year was Cliff's last. The only words she caught of Dumbledore's end of year speech were the last ones.

"And to those of you who are leaving this year for your last time, I wish you luck in all the years that lie ahead."

His words made her realize something she'd never thought about. Cliff had been there since her first day when she had arrived, completely overwhelmed by the onslaught of emotions. He had put up with her for six years, and now she would have to learn how to get along without him.

* * *

On the way back in the train, Alexas, Cliff, Adrian and Draco shared a compartment right at the back of the train.

This had caused two commotions when it was decided. The first was Pansy's screaming fit and Crabbe and Goyle's blank incomprehension over why Draco didn't want to be with them.

The second was Adrian. He was slowly learning to accept Draco's friendship to Alexas, but occasionally hit a snag. This was one of them.

"I just don't see why he has to be here." Adrian whispered to Cliff for what must have been the tenth time.

"I'm not deaf you know." Draco said exasperatedly. There was silence for a few moments before Alexas snapped at all of them.

"Look, just get over it! All three of you are my friends, so either get used to it, or get lost – the lot of you!" she shouted, springing to her feet. "I'm going for some air." She muttered, walking out the door and slamming it behind her.

Draco stood up to go and follow her but was stopped by a quiet comment by Cliff.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." He advised. "Unless you have a death wish."

"I'm sure I can handle myself." Draco said wryly as he too exited the compartment. Cautiously he approached Alexas. Despite his cocky statement, he knew all too well how lethal her temper could be.

"What do you want?" she demanded coldly.

"Just to apologize." He said, his hands spread wide in a gesture of peace. "I was a real jerk in there."

She chuckled. "No. The biggest jerk in there was Biggsly. I just don't know why he won't leave you alone."

"Well it's pretty obvious that he has a thing for you."

She sighed. "I know. That's why I'm so hard on him, but trying to drive him away hasn't done anything."

"I'll jinx him if you want." Draco offered, smiling mischievously.

Alexas laughed and turned to face him. "Thanks for the offer, but somehow I don't think it would help matters. Besides," she said with an impish grin of her own, "If I wanted him jinxed, I'd be doing it myself."

* * *

As they were pulling their trunks down out of the train, Alexas suddenly pounced on Cliff, wrapping her arms around his waist and burying her head in his shoulder. "I'm going to miss you." She said glumly.

"I know, I'm wonderful. Now please let go so I can avoid a collision of trunk and toe." She released him and he barely managed to get his trunk out without damaging any part of him.

"You just can't be serious, can you Cliff?" Alexas asked, a sad smile playing about her lips.

"Of course not. Far too many serious people in this world as it is." Not wanting to drag out their goodbye any more, he waved at them and pulled his magically lightened trunk off towards his parents.

"See you next year." Adrian said nervously.

"Bye." Alexas grunted, his behavior on the train neither forgiven nor forgotten yet.

"There's my mother." Draco remarked quietly.

"And mine." They hugged briefly in parting. "I'll write. You should come after…" Alexas paused uncertainly, "…you know."

Draco nodded grimly and they both lugged their trunks off towards their respective mothers.


End file.
